Recently, the public has become increasingly concerned with disease and its transmission, and as such, there is an increased awareness of the importance of cleansing and hygiene in general. For example, with respect to the transmission of E. coli in the food services industry, the rhinovirus in elementary schools, and nosocomial diseases within healthcare facilities, numerous studies have cited hand hygiene as an effective measure to guard against disease transmission. In response, the healthcare industry, the food services industry, and the hotel and travel industries have been forced to examine their protocols and procedures to ensure that their personnel adopt hand-sanitizing habits that are efficacious in the prevention of disease transmission.
In response, as an effort to provide sufficient opportunities for individuals to have access to soap and sanitizers, many institutions and industries have provided numerous disposable or refillable (reusable) dispensing containers of sanitizer and/or soap to facilitate individuals in their efforts to sanitize and/or wash their hands. While the availability of such dispensing containers has increased the opportunities for individuals to wash and/or sanitize their hands, there is still a lack of compliance with predetermined hand-washing hygiene standards. However, to minimize the potential transmission of bacteria and/or viruses by hand washing and sanitization, full compliance with hygiene standards is required, as the failure of one individual to properly sanitize his or her hands can negate the efforts of others who come in contact with such individuals.
Unfortunately, to ensure compliance with predetermined hygiene standards, current hygiene compliance monitoring systems that are configured to track hygiene compliance of users require the use of one or more permanently-installed or mounted soap/sanitizer dispensers. Unfortunately, such permanently-installed dispensers are costly and typically require specialized training to administrate. Moreover, integrating hygiene compliance monitoring functionality provided by such permanently-installed dispensers into each disposable or refillable dispensing container would impart a substantial cost to the manufacture of otherwise inexpensive dispensing containers. Thus, the widespread use of such costly dispensing containers would limit their use, which is unwanted.
Therefore, there is a need for a point-of-care hygiene compliance module that is configured to be removably attached to a dispensing container, such as a refillable or disposable dispensing container or other portable dispensing container. In addition, there is a need for a self-powered point-of-care hygiene compliance module that is capable of being removably attached to the dispensing container. Furthermore, there is a need for a hygiene compliance module that is capable of being removably attached to a dispensing container and that is low-cost and user-friendly.